You can’t have it both ways, Cory. Complain about security theatre, or about security being applied unfairly (profiling, etc) but this was an example where preferential treatment (either pro or con) didn’t come into play at all. Arguably, the system worked as advertised, because no preferential treatment was afforded.

Saying “x-population (infirm, young children, etc) shouldn’t be screened, because everyone knows they’re not terrorists” is silly. What does a terrorist look like? Muslim? Arab? How many Muslims are Arab? AFAIK, not even half. Muslim? What does a Muslim look like? Black? White? Brown? Check, check, and check. Oh, wait, maybe the terrorist isn’t white. But what about that Timothy McVeigh character? Or Ted Kaszinksi? (sp?) So terrorists are men, like the aforementioned, and like Richard Reid (the “shoe bomber”) or the 19 hijackers of 9/11. And the Chechen women, who initiated attacks against Russia.

Maybe the truth is “we don’t know what the heck a terrorist looks like”, so as long as the silliness will continue, it needs to be applied to anyone, including Nobel Prize winners who’ve orchestrated bombing campaigns. (Maybe they really did catch a bomber, after all…)

Attack the root of the problem, not the sickly branches. How’s about “security theatre considered harmful” instead of focusing on Kissinger’s wheelchair?

Cory is, as usual, remarking upon the ridiculousness of it all.
No matter whether we like Kissinger or not we can be DAMN sure that he’s not there to take over the plane and/or blow it up.
The “actual (but likely harmless) mass murdering serial bomber” headline is just a good headline.

Cory isn’t asking to have it both ways. He is asking for sanity. The screening that they put people through is a wrong-headed invasion of privacy and personal space. Who’s space it is is a side question.

I suppose the ‘Full Monty’ isn’t nearly as invasive as someone like Kissinger deserves.

If I believed in an afterlife I would have little doubt as to where Kissinger would end up. that said, he isn’t likely to take over an airplane (he tended to have other people do that). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_Flight_455